This invention relates to providing an improved building wall chase system and a wall box apparatus for routing and connecting to, respectively, plumbing lines within the interior of a new or existing building structure and machines within the building. More particularly, this invention relates to providing a wall chase system and wall box apparatus within the interior of a specialty medical treatment facility (e.g., kidney-dialysis treatment facility).
Contemporary kidney-dialysis treatment facilities include groupings of multiple kidney-dialysis machines located at a designated station within a common treatment room. Each station includes a kidney-dialysis machine configured to receive treated water (e.g., Reverse Osmosis (RO) or Deionized (DI) water), acid concentrates, and bicarbonate concentrates dialysate, electrical power, etc., and waste-fluid disposal via a wall-box and wall chase system. Contemporary wall-boxes such as those manufactured by companies like Perma-Chase, Whitehall Manufacturing and WD Manor Mechanical Contractors provide panel-mounted shut-off valves and fittings for various connections to kidney-dialysis machine plumbing lines and drain line. The wall boxes are housed within chase systems for protectively containing plumbing lines, fittings such as valves, and other plumbing connections, where such chase systems sit offset from the interior walls of a treatment room. Such chase systems require substantial treatment facility floor space and, as such, increase real estate and construction capital costs of building structures utilizing them. Industry literature describes chase systems, even those with recessed wall boxes, as being designed to afford more work space and prevent damage to valves and dialysis machine connections when chairs recline. In an exemplary chase system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 9,421,312 to Marinan, Aug. 23, 2016, each station, comprised of standard-sized chase system components, typically require about 9 square feet of floor space and 24 cubic feet of volume. Clearly, an improved wall chase system that efficiently reduces kidney-dialysis treatment facilities space requirements (i.e., real estate costs) for supplying plumbing lines to kidney-dialysis stations while also reducing construction costs for chase wall millwork is desirable.
In addition, present-day kidney-dialysis wall boxes are comprised of numerous plumbing fitting interfaces (i.e., joints) created through plumbing connections between a building structure's plumbing lines (i.e., loops), building waste lines and fluid plumbing lines of kidney-dialysis machines. The more such joints are created, the greater the chance of fluid leaks and bacterial growth, thereby resulting in an increased need for disinfection and maintenance. U.S. Pat. No. 9,421,312 to Marinan, Aug. 23, 2016 discloses a typical fluid collector (i.e., wall box) that is comprised of numerous joints (i.e., points where fittings, including valves, plumbing lines, and valve disconnects, etc. are joined together). Marinan further discloses that it is well established that such leakages promote the development of mold, may produce other health risks associated with the presence of persistent moisture, and can cause costly damage to the affected building components. Such costs and associated financial burden are borne by dialysis treatment facility builders and operators who have a desire to reduce such financial burden. Therefore, there is a need in the art for a dialysis wall box and wall box chase system that addresses such deficiencies present in the prior art wall boxes.